UCLA International Institute, CA
Sept 24 2004

Recent PhDs in Middle East Studies

Twenty-one students have completed PhDs in Middle East studies in the
past three years, in the departments of Art History, Comparative
Literature, Ethnomusicology, History, Near Eastern Languages and
Cultures, Political Science and the Islamic Studies Program.

Diane James

Avner Ben Zaken (History, 2004), `The Angelus Novus of Early Modern
Science: The Past, the East and the Circulation of Post-Copernican
Astronomy in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1560-1660.’ Avner is
conducting postgraduate research as a Junior Fellow (2004-06) in the
Harvard Society of Fellows.

Sandra Campbell (Islamic Studies, 2003), `Telling Memories: The
Zubayrids in Islamic Historical Memory.’

Cynthia Skvorec Colburn (Art History, 2003), “The Art of Interaction:
Distance and Social Status in Prepalatial Crete.” Cynthia is Visiting
Professor of Art History, Pepperdine University, Malibu.

Jacob Dahl (NELC, 2003), “The Ruling Family of Ur III Umma: A
Prosopographical Analysis of a Provincial Elite Family in Southern
Iraq ca. 2100-2000 BC.” Jacob was awarded a fellowship by the Centre
National de la Recherche Scientifique for postgraduate research at
the Musée du Louvre in Paris.

Lynn Swartz Dodd (NELC, 2002), “The Ancient Past in the Ancient
Present: Cultural Identity in Gurgum during the Late Bronze Age-Early
Iron Age Transition in North Syria.” Lynn is Visiting Assistant
Professor in the School of Religion and Curator of the Archaeological
Research Collection at the University of Southern California.

Howard Eissenstat (History, 2004), `Imagining a New Nation: Range of
Discourse in the Development of Turkish Nationalism, 1920-1945.’
Howard is Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern History in the
Department of History, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point.

Roger Good (NELC, 2003), `The Septuagint’s Translation of the Hebrew
Verbal System in Chronicles.’

Karen Gumberg (Comparative Literature, 2004), `Poetics of Place:
Unraveling Home and Exile in Jewish Literature from Israel and the
United States.’ Karen is Assistant Professor of Hebrew Literature in
the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas at
Austin.

Kathleen Hood (Ethnomusicology, 2002), “Music and Memory in a Global
Age: Wedding Songs of the Syrian Druzes.”

George Kooshian (History, 2002), “The Armenian Immigrant Community of
California, 1880-1935.” George teaches English as a Second Language
in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Fred Mabie (NELC, 2004), `Ancient Near Eastern Scribes and the
Mark(s) They Left: A Catalog and Analysis of Scribal Auxiliary Marks
in the Amarna Corpus and in the Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts of Ugarit
and Ras Ibn Hani.’ Fred is an Assistant Professor at Biola University
in La Mirada, California.

Afshin Marashi (History, 2003), “Nationalizing Iran: Culture, Power,
and the State, 1870-1941.” Afshin is Assistant Professor of History,
California State University, Sacramento.

Kerry Muhlestein (NELC, 2003), `Violence in the Service of Order: The
Religious Framework for Sanctioned Killing in Ancient Egypt.’ Kerry
is Assistant Professor of Religion and History, Brigham Young
University, Hawaii.

Firoozeh Papan-Matin (NELC, 2004), `Death, Vision and the Self in
`Ayn al-Qudat Hamadhania.’ Firoozeh teaches Iranian Studies in the
Department of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa
Barbara.

Nahid Pirnazar (NELC, 2003), `The Place of the Fifteenth-Century
Judeo-Persian Religious Epic Emrani’s Fathnameh in Iranian Literary
Traditions.’

Heidi Rutz (Islamic Studies, 2003), “Orders from God? The
Implications of Ethno-religious Discourse and Transnational Networks
on Group Mobilization and Violence.” Heidi is an Assistant Professor
in the US Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island.

Sonia Tamar Seeman (Ethnomusicology, 2002), “You’re Roman: Music and
Identity in Turkish Roman Communities.” Sonia is a Postdoctoral
Faculty Fellow in Ethnomusicology at the University of California,
Santa Barbara, and performs with the UCSB Middle East Ensemble.

David Simonowitz (Islamic Studies, 2004), `On the Cutting Edges of
Dhu’l-Fiqar: Authority and the Discourse of Architecture in the
Musta`li-Tayyibi and Nizari Communities.’

Abdulkader Sinno (Political Science, 2002), “Organizing to Win: How
Organizational Structure Affects the Outcome of Strategic Interaction
in Politicized Group Conflicts.” Abdulkader is Assistant Professor of
Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies at Indiana University in
Bloomington.

Julie Taylor (Political Science, 2004), `Prophet Sharing: Strategic
Interaction between Islamic Clerics and Middle Eastern Regimes.’
Julie is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Near Eastern
Studies, Princeton University.

Hussam Timani (Islamic Studies, 2002), “The Khawarij in Modern
Islamic Historiography.” Hussam teaches Middle East History at
California State College, San Marcos.